Monthly Archives: May 2016

Join the pub staff and guests, plus a full house of patrons as we closeout Chicago Craft Beer Week. Our show is recorded from the The Brit and Yankee Pub studios and Mark and Phil welcome guests John Karwoski, and Mr. Illinois Beer, John Bittermann.
Reviewed brews segue from the last episode where we sample Brew Werks Farmhouse Contra, and then try beers that are from breweries in the Chicago suburbs and Illinois that we have not yet tried.

The Pubcast staff head south down Route 59 and head to Plainfield, IL to visit with brewer Brandon Wright at Werk Force Brewing.
We taste some of their brews, and Brandon heads to the back and hooks up a keg of one of his Otters series. Of course we sample some of his range of brews on tap on that day, starting with Steve’s Going To Helles…, Helles Lager at 5.5%.
Next up is Apricot Farmhouse, 7.0%, followed by Galactic IPA, Dry Hopped Pale Ale, 6.4%.
We have a surprise visit from one of Brandon’s neighbors, Chris ‘Unpronounceable’ from Ten Drops Coffee.
Finally, one of Brandon’s very popular Otter series, Wild Otters, fermented for 18 months in gin barrels.

We record a show over at John’s Tavern in Winfield, and we’re getting violent on this show with some Smack and Bruising! Noon Whistle has been producing their Smack series of beers and we have 2 of the barrel-aged varieties to review.

The first is Swanky Smack, a red sour aged in cabernet barrels and checking in at 4.8%. The other is Face Smack, a Berliner Weisse aged in cabernet barrels, and 4.0%. In between, we sandwich a rarity from The Bruery, Hottenroth Berliner Weisse (3.1%), something that is discontinued according to their website but we have it on draft at John’s. We recommend all three!

Phil revisits with Sean Curry from Sketchbook Brewing, and this time Sean brings out some special brews from his extensive cellar. All of these brews can be considered ‘Leather Chair’ beers, in other words those that require you to sit down, relax, and sip them at the end of a great evening. Together with Tom Ryan, the three forego the leather chairs and relax on wooden chairs up at Sketchbook’s new tap room in Evanston.